After leaving the Zhuang family's courtyard, Lin Chenggang and Lin Yu walked on the road one after another.

  After walking for a while, Lin Xiao suddenly stopped on the road.

  Lin Chenggang turned his head and looked at his sister who was lowering her head with a frown, asking: "What's wrong, why aren't you leaving?"

  Lin Xiao didn't say a word, she just walked to the side of the pond and stood in front of a willow tree, her eyes gazing at the pond, her eyebrows shrouded in a thick and misty fog, lost in thought, not uttering a single word.

  Lin Chenggang said somewhat impatiently: "What's wrong with you?"

  After a long while, Lin Xiao finally said with some reluctance: "Nothing, just pitying my fate for not being born into a good family."

  Lin Xiao thought of the elegant and beautiful Lin Di, thought of the innocent and kind-hearted Lin Lian. They were all born with good fortune in the belly of the Zhuang family, so now their grandmother loves them, their father dotes on them, and the Zhuang family treats them like precious treasures. They have everything, but she has no one to care for her, not even her father's love, her stepmother is indifferent, and her mother has been confined in the Zhuang house for over a decade without being able to see her. At the same time, girls from the same household, all with the surname Lin, why are their fates so different? Heaven is so unfair.

  Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel self-pity and regret about her own life.

  Lin Cheng gave her a bored look and said, "You're full and idle, with nothing better to do than feel sorry for yourself. You'd be better off thinking of ways to win over your grandmother." With that, he turned to leave.

  Lin Xiao called out to him again at this time: "Brother."

  After all, she was her own sister, and Lin Cheng couldn't bear it, so he stopped in his tracks to persuade her a few more times.

  Before he could speak, Lin Ju's face became increasingly tearful and her voice choked as she said: "Why does Father dislike us so much? What did we do wrong?"

  Lin Chenggang didn't say a word, this was something he had also wanted to ask before. But now he didn't want to ask anymore, nor did he want to know again. Now he just wanted to make himself stronger, one day he would let that person know, he didn't need him to look at him straight in the eye.

  Lin Xiao sniffled, turned around and looked at Lin Cheng, then asked her: "You said it's not the stepmother who spoke ill of us in front of our father, so that's why he dislikes us? And what about Auntie, I heard from Third Aunt that Auntie didn't do anything wrong back then, it was the stepmother who played tricks, so Auntie was misunderstood by Father and sent to the farm..."

  Lin Chenggang furrowed his brow, sternly interrupting her: "Shut up." His eyes coldly glanced at her as he said: "Elder's matters are not for you to meddle in. And that woman's affairs, don't mention them again from now on. If you want to die, keep talking, but don't drag me down with you."

  Lin Xiao lowered her voice and sobbed, saying: "Brother, I'm sorry. I just think that if Aunt was in the mansion, if Father liked Aunt as much as he likes Stepmother, we would be much better off. I heard that Father used to like Aunt very much, why didn't he like her later? If only Father still liked her, it would be great."

  Lin Chenggang turned sideways and didn't plan to listen to her madness anymore.

  Lin Xiao wiped her eyes and asked again: "Brother, you said that Third Aunt becoming the Empress is a good thing?"

  Lin Chenggang was shocked and pale, and shouted: "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

  Lin Xiao seemed to have not heard what he said, and continued: "I've always gotten along well with Third Aunt, and Third Aunt has always been good to me. If Third Aunt becomes the Empress, she will definitely be on our side. This way we...we..." We won't have to look at other people's faces anymore, it's better than Lin He becoming the Empress anyway.

  Just as she hadn't finished speaking, Lin Cheng had already walked over quickly, a loud slapping sound came from the air, and then Lin Yu covered her face in shock, staring at her brother's furious face.

  "Are you out of your mind? Someone waves a piece of meat in front of you and you think they're being nice to you? You think San Gu is some kind of good person, but be careful or she'll sell you out and help count the money. And another thing, San Gu is just an illegitimate daughter of a concubine, what does she have besides her looks and a bit of cleverness? Her status isn't even as good as ours, if our grandmother didn't tolerate her, she wouldn't be able to keep on acting like this. What makes you think she has the ability to become empress just because she wants to?"

  Lin Xiao covered her face and choked with sobs.

  Lin Chenggang looked at her without a hint of sympathy or pity, and continued to scold: "Let me remind you, if you want to live a little longer, you'd better not follow San Gu Gu around. If you want to continue being stupid, I won't stop you, but I'll also tell you that when you die, I won't even bother to collect your body for someone as stupid and hopeless as you. Think about it yourself." After finishing speaking, he ignored her and left.

  Lin Xiang was choked with tears as she looked at him, feeling that there was no moment more heartbreaking than this. She had thought that she still had an older brother to rely on, but now she realized that even her own brother would not sympathize with her, and in this world, she was just a lonely person.

  Thinking of this, she once again felt a wave of self-pity and melancholy about her own life.

  She hid behind the willow tree and cried softly for a long time before coming out, afraid of being seen by the maid that she had been crying and the palm print on her face, so she quickly used a handkerchief to tidy up her face, then slipped back into her own courtyard.

  As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, Lin Wan led her own maid Xiaotong from a distance and called out to her: "Bao Niang."

  Lin Xiao stopped in her tracks, looked up at her and called out: "Third Aunt." After finishing speaking, she thought of the palm print on her face and hurriedly lowered her head.

  Lin Jin walked over with a smile and said, "I was just about to go find you, but you're only back now? How was it, going to pay respects to Third Aunt?" The last sentence carried a hint of concern in her tone, as if their visit to pay respects to Zhuang Shi was some kind of terrible disaster.

  Lin Xiao didn't respond to her words, Lin Gao walked closer and seemed to have finally seen the five finger marks on her face. He hastily exclaimed in surprise: "Xiao Niang, what's going on with your face? Who hit you?" As he spoke, he reached out to touch the red mark on her face, his expression showing concern: "Good heavens, it must hurt a lot."

  Seeing Lin Wei's concerned look, Lin Xuan's originally cold heart suddenly felt a warmth.

  Who says San Gu Gu isn't sincere to her? Her grandmother and father don't care about her, her stepmother ignores her, her biological mother can't even see her face, and her own brother beats her. In the end, only San Gu Gu cares about her and is good to her. If San Gu Gu being good to her means taking advantage of her, then she's willing to be taken advantage of.